(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of thermal analysis of solids and liquids hereinafter called thermopiezic analysis (TPA) and to an apparatus for carrying out the same method.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
There are several methods of thermal analysis of solids or liquids which are in widespread use and these include thermogravimetric analysis (TG), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Many solids (for example, carbonates, sulphates, hydrated salts, silicate minerals, organic solids and hydrogenated metals) when heated will decompose and evolve gases at a characteristic temperature or temperatures. Other solids will react with ambient gas to form compounds (for example, certain metals react with hydrogen to form hydrides). The weight change as a result of these reactions is continuously monitored at a constant heating rate in thermogravimetric analysis. Differential thermal analysis is a technique based on continuously monitoring the temperature of a sample and of a reference which are being heated and recording the temperature difference between the two as a function of temperature. In differential scanning calorimetry the difference in power which must be applied to make a sample and a reference follow a desired heating rate is monitored.